Blake's Pursuit (Scanguards Vampires, #11)(77)

“I wish I could say I was surprised, but I just got alerted that Hannah’s access card was swiped to enter the garage.”

“You mean somebody took her access card and managed to get inside Scanguards? How is that even possible?” There were more levels of security than just the access card. “They would have had to have her fingerprint, too.”

“I know. That’s why I pulled the video feeds from the levels accessed with Hannah’s card. Hold on.” He paused for a second. “Thanks, Eddie. Blake, you’re not gonna believe this: Hannah entered the garage. It’s her, without a doubt. She went to the main parking level and accessed the emergency key hold.”

This made no sense. “If she escaped somehow, then why wouldn’t she just go upstairs to the staff office and report back?”

“Blake, I don’t think she escaped. There’s something about her… Eddie, zoom in on her face again… There! Blake, I think she’s drugged.”

“Oh shit! Where did she go?”

“That’s just it, she took one of the keys, then went to parking level B2. Eddie, go to the recording for level B2… There, she comes out of the elevator, heads for the cars. Oh no.”

“What?” Blake barked into the phone.

“She took your car. Let’s see…”

What was she planning to do with his car?

“She left with it. I don’t know where to, but she drove out of the garage about twenty minutes ago.”

“It makes no sense. Why would Norwood make her steal my car? They must realize that we can trace it with its built-in locator chip. Something isn’t right.”

“I’ll go through all the footage again to see if we’re missing anything, or if she let anybody else in, but so far I see nothing.”

“Blake!” Ronny suddenly called out, holding his cell phone in the air. “It’s Norwood. He wants to talk to you.”

“Stay on the line, Thomas,” Blake ordered and took Ronny’s phone with his other hand, already barking into it. “Norwood, you little shit! What’re you up to?”

“Is that a way to greet the man who’s in possession of the one thing most precious to you?” Norwood drawled.

“I know you drugged Hannah,” he started, but Norwood cut him off.

“But I’m not talking about Hannah. I’m talking about Lilo.”

Blake’s heart stopped.

“Such a beautiful woman. A little limp right now, but,” Norwood continued, “she’ll wake up eventually.”

“You really think I’m gonna believe you have her?” He pressed the mute button, then switched to his own cell phone. “Thomas, run to my office and check on Lilo. Now!”

“On my way.”

He pressed unmute on Ronny’s phone and concentrated on Norwood’s words, continuing to listen with one ear to his own cell phone.

“I’d like to trade her and Hannah for Ronny and the drugs. And this time, no games,” Norwood warned.

Meanwhile, Thomas’s voice came through the other phone. “She’s gone, Blake. Disappeared.”

Blake’s fangs descended and his hands turned into claws. “I’m going to rip your throat out when I find you!”

“Such idle threats,” Norwood said coolly. “Guess you believe me now. So let’s see how much she’s worth to you.”



~



Blake slammed his fist into the wall of his office, leaving a dent in the drywall. “How could this happen?” He’d failed Lilo. He hadn’t kept her safe. She was in the hands of a madman. “Why didn’t I see this coming?”

John stood in silence next to Ronny, who appeared to be crushed by this setback.

Wes put a hand on his shoulder, but Blake shrugged it off. “Nobody saw this coming. They must have drugged Hannah to somehow get her to trick Lilo into meeting her. The guard said Lilo went rushing out the door, but he didn’t see where she was heading.”

Blake nodded to himself. “Lilo is smart. She wouldn’t have fallen for it if Hannah hadn’t been convincing.”

“Maybe that’s why Hannah stole your car,” Wes mused. “What if she needed it to convince Lilo that you sent her?”

For a moment, he contemplated the question. “However they convinced her, we need to find where they’ve taken her. Quickly.”

“We’ve already located your car. I’ve sent a team there, but I’m pretty sure they just dumped it. Hannah knows the car is equipped with a GPS tracker. She would have ditched it as soon as she didn’t need it anymore,” John said.

Blake turned to Wes. “Can you scry for Lilo?”

“With what? It was hard enough finding something with Hannah’s DNA in her flat. And the little I found didn’t get me a reading on her. It’s even harder with Lilo. So unless you have a vial of her blood, I’m afraid, we’re out of luck. A couple of hairs won’t be powerful enough to make the crystal work.” Wes gave an apologetic shrug.

Ronny suddenly lifted his head. “You said with blood you could locate somebody?”

“Yeah, I can.”

“Maybe you can find Norwood or one of his associates. The drug they put into that human with the motorboat has blood from one of them in it.”